Cantilever shelf attachments adapted to mount to the legs at one end of chairs or tables are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 888,366 to Sutton; 939,764 to Vickers et al, and 4,311,101 to de Almagro. Shelf attachments of this type include a pair of support arms adapted to mount to the spaced legs at one end of a chair or table, and a planar shelf secured atop the support arms. Such cantilever shelves add to the useful surface area of the table and can be mounted at a height lower than the table top to facilitate the operation of food processors, cheese slicers or any other type of equipment.
Although useful in some applications, the cantilever shelf attachments of the type described above also have limitations and problems. The structure disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 888,366 to Sutton, for example, is designed to fit a special style leg of a stool or chair and is not adapted for use on tables and chairs having legs of different sizes or configuration. Other shelf attachments, such as disclosed in the Vickers et al U.S. Pat. No. 939,764, employ one or more support arms formed in two opposed sections each of which has at least one arcuate end adapted to fit around a portion of the leg. The two sections of the support arm are connected together and to the leg by a bolt extending therebetween which is tightened to draw the sections together against the leg. This type of structure is relatively expensive to manufacture, cumbersome to install and can result in failure of the opposed sections of the support arms if they are connected together too tightly.
Additionally, no provision is made in the shelf attachments of the type disclosed in the patents to Sutton, Vickers et al and de Almagro to guard against lengthwise collapse of a table having no support member connected between its legs. A heavy load placed on a cantilever shelf mounted to the legs at one end of such a table can collapse all four legs in a direction toward such end wherein the table top and the top of each leg shift laterally toward the weight.